Yale University recently concluded an agreement with Waseda University in order to provide expanded library access privileges for Yale faculty and students. Waseda University is one of the premier private universities in Japan. It has a longstanding connection to Yale and to the Yale Library. Asakawa Kan’ichi, first Curator for the East Asian collections in the Yale Library, was a graduate of Tokyo Senmon Gakko, which later became Waseda University. It is the first Japanese institution to become a member of OCLC and has been involved with inter-library loan initiatives with North American institutions. The library has an atmosphere similar to U.S. academic libraries.

Joint Program Overview:

This joint program is designed to facilitate access to Waseda University libraries by Yale affiliates who are in Japan for individual research. Yale affiliates are allowed use of the entire Waseda library system, including its 29 libraries and 4.9 million-volume book collection.

Yale Affiliate Privileges:

Yale affiliates are allowed wide access to Waseda library collections beyond the restrictions normally placed on visiting scholars. Yale affiliates are allowed to use the collections for the duration of their stay free of charge, instead of the normal one week period designated for visiting scholars. However, students may not be allowed to check out books from the libraries. Photocopy service is available in certain libraries, but no printer or wireless access is available in the library.

Access:

Yale affiliates planning to use the library during their stay in Japan should contact Haruko Nakamura, the Japanese Collection Librarian, well in advance of their departure, so that an introductory notice may be sent to Waseda University beforehand.

Yale affiliates who are already in Japan should e-mail Haruko Nakamura, the Japanese Collection Librarian, as soon as possible prior to the date of intended library use, as Yale University Library must send a preliminary introductory notice directly to Waseda University before access to the libraries will be granted.